Says Saddam's chief lawyer Ziad al-Khasawneh: "Those witnesses cannot be challenged in terms of the weight of their testimonies, their persons, positions and connection to the event."

The Kurds must have gassed themselves. Or the Zionists did it.

Item 2: "Iraq's Jan. 30 elections fall on the 37th anniversary of the Tet offensive, the Vietnam War turning point that could hold lessons for Iraqi insurgents and U.S. policy makers anticipating more violence that could test American resolve."

The actual Reuters piece is broadly accurate, noting as it does that "the Tet offensive... was a heavy defeat for the communist forces in strictly military terms. However, it gave them a psychological and propaganda victory which vividly rebutted the Johnson administration's rosy portrayal of the fighting, broke the will of U.S. political elites, and triggered a steady erosion in American public support for the war."

Now, I wonder, how could have "a heavy defeat" magically transformed itself into "a propaganda victory"?

"The Bush Administration is intentionally steering Iraq towards civil war. The elections are merely the catalyst for igniting, what could be, a massive social upheaval. This explains the bizarre insistence on voting when security is nearly nonexistent and where a mere 7% of the people can even identify the candidates."

But won't civil war interfere with the neocons' attempts to steal Iraq's oil?